That Blessed Crane

Happy First Friday! Typically on First Fridays, I do some sort of craft project involving the dismantling and mangling of books... and today is no exception, but it's serving double purpose. Today, I'm using the pages of books to create paper cranes for decorative purposes as well as contemplative and calming.

You see, I've got this fish pond in my yard. Okay, I had a fish pond. Now I've only got a pond, thanks to one visit from one crane, er...heron, er... whatever. Cranes are supposed to be harbingers of good things. Really, this one was a harbinger of a wide-spread fish-kill. (We're talking complete destruction.) But even telling you about this is making me lose my good juju. Ohmmmm. Back to paper crane folding and while I fold, (and regain my calm), I'll tell you a little bit about paper cranes.

Firstly, it is a contemplative task, folding paper cranes. I won't go into the whole long, drawn out tutorial here. There are far better tutorials on youtube, such as this one: Paper Crane Tutorial And for those who already know how to fold them, you'll appreciate my mnemonics: "square, kite, bird mouth, fat man, skinny man, book-fold, fox, open-wide, book-fold, bird." (You'll get it after you master the art of paper crane folding.)

In some parts of the world, the crane is regarded as a messenger from the gods. In Asian cultures, the crane represents long-life, (not, apparently, for my fish), health, wisdom and prosperity. And who couldn't use a little more health, wisdom and prosperity?

At the very least, they make great packing material for a box being sent to my daughter who is away at college. That, and they're fun dangling all around my desk.

Got my good juju back, so I'm back to working on the WIP, the first in my new mystery series, The Wicked Step-Mothers Mysteries. Happy folding!

Zen and the Art of Doodling

It’s First Fridays, and thus, time to get creative… with zen doodling. It’s the latest rage! Okay, it’s not such a rage. More of a low murmur. And Okay, it’s not so new. In fact, it’s as old as the hills. But I’m “down with the kids”, and this is what they’re murmuring about this week: Zen Doodles.

What, you ask, is a zen doodle? (Pretend you asked.) Basically, it’s a doodle. It’s one big, complex, massive doodle. What’s the point of a zen doodle?

1. Meditative
2. Stress release
3. A plotting tool
4. Cool art to fill the pages of your journal.

It’s meditative, because it helps you to exercise moving from constraint to freedom. The only constraint is the page on which you’re doodling. Then you slowly add constraints – an outline of my hand was my constraint in this doodle (below). Then you free up again by doodling in one portion of it, then add constraint – a curve, a flower petal, a line – big and bold within the constraint of the hand, then within that constraint, you add another layer of free-form detail. (This, by the way, is a LOT like plotting a novel.)

It’s a stress release, because it requires very little attention. I did the hand while having coffee with the LWDC (Ladies Who Drink Coffee). As we chatted, I doodled.

It’s a plotting tool. I suffer (suffer?) from Attention Deficit Disorder or A.D.D. – an ugly, pejorative term that doesn’t really describe what it is to have ADD. I prefer to think of it as Attention Diversity Dilemma. Sure, one of its less pleasant side bars is the inability to focus – on stuff that other people want you to focus! I’m perfectly chill with focusing on what I want to focus. Sometimes I need to employ strategies… like zen-doodling. I write. My mind wanders. I doodle. I strum my banjo, (always close at hand), and then I turn back to writing. I have a goal of 1,000 words per day. That’s just four pages, approximately. I can do that – in and around Attention Diversity Dilemma. Would I be more productive without A.D.D.? Maybe. Who knows, but I’m certain I would be far less creative.

Here’s a little video book trailer I put together for one of my off-road books, (another hazard of A.D.D. – going off-track genre-wise). The entire book trailer is just one big giant zen-doodle! While writing the book, I created pictures – still shots of scenes that were playing in my head – then I used my words – a free-form expression of what I hoped to incorporate into the characters, the plot, etc., into the creation of the pictures. The zen doodle is the plot! I hope you enjoy the trailer, even if the book might not be exactly your cuppa tea. (Warning: It's young adult, paranormal, not cozy.) The book I'm writing now is a sweet romantic comedy loosely based on the play, Cyrano DeBergerac, by Edmund Rostand. I'll try to post some of the zen doodles on my blog at www.sofiecouch.blogspot.com as I journal the plot... soon. 

So, the next time you sit down to coffee with friends, pick up a pen, grab a piece of paper… and zen doodle. You never know where it may lead you.